Things are tough all over so what am I doing, about to criticize non-profits I favor? The endeavors — literature, fine art, serious music — are the sorts of things that keep me rooted here, but some of their staff members could use some free advice, for what it’s worth.<\/p>\n
1. The literary bimonthly Oxford American<\/a>, as reported by my favorite newspaper<\/a>. When an employee is accused of embezzling between $30,305 and more than $100,000, the employee’s supervisors, as well as the enterprise’s board, are accountable for not noticing sooner, unless this was a genius crime. The greater figure includes money due to the IRS. No heads are reported rolling, or even shaken up a bit.<\/p>\n I’ve been buying it off the newsstand or borrowing copies for a long time. In January I sent a check for a two-year subscription, it was cashed but I have yet to be mailed a copy. Maybe the missing amount is $30,334.95?<\/p>\n 2. Early fall’s Fayetteville Arts Festival<\/a>, as reported by the NWA Times. No crafts, just juried artists with live entertainment thrown in. An estimated 9,000 came over two weekends last year, with $40,000 in art being sold. Money has been provided by donations and Fayetteville. The city is having a revenue crunch (a cereal that’s never soggy even with soy milk!) due to declines in sales taxes, so it’s not funding the fest or most similar programs this year. The fest was run by the Downtown Partners, which last autumn fired its two employees and now is volunteer-run. It wants $50,000 within two weeks (why the hurry?) to put on the festival in late August. Here’s a line from the article:<\/p>\n In terms of cutbacks, most will come in the form of ticketed performances.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That’s people paying for admission. Income. INCOME. Income<\/em>. The beef? Ya rent a hall or a field or a parking lot, ya rent booths to artists, ya sell tickets for the music and the plays, and ya solicit underwriting for the modest difference. Unless you’re going for extra ooh la la. Like what?<\/p>\n 3. For several years, orchestras nationwide have been hemorrhaging money. It’s sad that the trend has arrived here with the North Arkansas Symphony. Here is the NWA Times version<\/a> on the suspension of the last concert of the season. Here is The Morning News<\/a> on the orchestra. Wow, cutting a season short is a tragedy. This is an expensive enterprise, no two ways about it. To do it right, you need professional musicians; that means they get paid. The group usually fills Walton Arts Center, at $28 to $40 tickets. But that’s not enough. The articles don’t mention staff, but it’s bigger than the conductor and a music librarian. No employees of a private or non-profit agency offer themselves to be sacrificed, but the Web site shows 10 sans instruments<\/a> (yes, some are also on the musicians’ list.) Heck, the board includes 35 members. Thirty-five. These 35 good citizens may not get paid, but are soft drinks and snacks provided at their meetings?<\/p>\n I wouldn’t suggest these people brown-bag the board meetings, but this might provide a hint of symptoms. Besides, there’s a patronizing attitude that potential ticket buyers — or individual donors or corporate underwriters — don’t need. This is a college town with prominent corporations’ executives also living in the region. Consider this quote from musical director Jeannine Wager:<\/p>\n We don’t just play classical music. We also play jazz, pop, rock — just about anything.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When a string orchestra plays poppy tunes — anything but classical (including contemporary serious music) — it is anything but pop.*<\/strong> No bandsman — the root of most American music lovers — can stomach the finale of July Fourth fireworks because they always broadcast the Boston Pops fiddle cover of the Sousa march “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Neither the NAS nor the NY Philharmonic can play rock any more than Kanye West’s string section can roll over either Beethoven or hip-hop<\/a>. Maestro: Play us Brahms, play us Glass, play us the winner of UA’s student composition contest.<\/p>\n 4. Turnips need to be planted in Arkansas right now, as they’re an early spring<\/a> crop. It’s like money in the bank. Plus the state and federal governments no longer accept payments in root vegetables or leafy greens. But you might try the box office of the Walton Arts Center. -30-<\/p>\n * The Next Day, 4\/1: Recall, and Revelation:<\/em> I need to amend at least this brash opinion. Overnight I recalled hearing The Kronos Quartet play Jimi Hendrix’ “Purple Haze” as an encore a decade ago in Austin. It rocked. This morning, classical DJ P.J. Robowski<\/a> played the Joe Trio’s<\/a> (caution, audio)<\/small> arrangement of the Stones’ “Paint It Black.” It rocked. I still am not one for pops orchestras, it’s not what large emsembles do best, but I recognize such pap sells tickets to people who avoid Beethoven, Brahms and Glass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Things are tough all over so what am I doing, about to criticize non-profits I favor? The endeavors — literature, fine art, serious music — are the sorts of things that keep me rooted here, but some of their staff members could use some free advice, for what it’s worth. 1. The literary bimonthly Oxford […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-home-street","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7104,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2021\/09\/reopening-birdberg-blotter\/","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":0},"title":"Reopening Birdberg Blotter","author":"Ben S. 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Ivory-billed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birdberg Blotter"","block_context":{"text":"Birdberg Blotter","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/birdberg-blotter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Detail of Audubon engraving of ivory-billed woodpecker","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Campephilus_principalis-Ivory-billed-Woodpecker-Audubon-16x9-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Campephilus_principalis-Ivory-billed-Woodpecker-Audubon-16x9-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Campephilus_principalis-Ivory-billed-Woodpecker-Audubon-16x9-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Campephilus_principalis-Ivory-billed-Woodpecker-Audubon-16x9-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Campephilus_principalis-Ivory-billed-Woodpecker-Audubon-16x9-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":343,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/08\/ankle-and-jaw-outbreak\/","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":1},"title":"Ankle and Jaw Outbreak","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Over in sunny old England -- after my morning tea, the fog cleared in me 'ead and I could focus on the telly -- cattle disease has broken out once again. The wire services are calling this foot-and-mouth disease. Surely this is the sickness hoof-and-mouth disease, because these cud-chewers have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":163,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/03\/safe-to-walk-the-streets\/","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":2},"title":"Safe to walk the streets","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Northwest Arkansas can rest easily. But, no, it isn't a good idea to walk around. Area law enforcement got the word that a prison escapee from Michigan might be in the area. Adam Lee Leadford, 18, got out of one of those boot camps for relatively young, relatively nondangerous offenders.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/01\/i-invented-the-wheel\/","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":3},"title":"I invented the wheel","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Friday, January 7, 2005. It's important to be efficient. To not reinvent the wheel is my oft-repeated goal, likely annoying others. Definition: Coming to know what works and what doesn't, what is tolerable and what drives you batty. It's a process of elimination, where over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":192,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/05\/when-rights-are-left\/","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":4},"title":"When rights are left","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Part of the definition of a right -- a human right, a civil right (aren't those interchangeable?) -- is that they're unalienable [or inalienable], to borrow and twist an independent, declarable phrase. Yet Alberto Gonzales the attorney general of the United States said on ABC's \"This Week\" today there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":346,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/08\/stox-and-bondz\/","url_meta":{"origin":418,"position":5},"title":"Stox and Bondz","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Why I'm in journalism and not real business, Point 2001: I do force myself to save some salary twice a month, once to IRA things and the second to more-immediately available accounts. I do mutual funds, no-load indexed jobs just like neutral experts advise: Money market, stocks and bonds. 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